Tales From the Fallen Empire

Aesir

Description: The Aesir take pride in not being descendants of the Atevans. They do not claim human ancestry at all. They have looks and common traits of men, but share none of their graces. Legends tell us about the realm known as Ásgarður, a brutal and barren world once inhabited by ice giants and monstrous beasts. It is from this world that the Aesir have come and, through magic, transplanted on the home world of the First Men centuries before the coming of the Dragons. The Aesir are large in stature, standing six and a half to seven feet tall; they have long blond to platinum hair that they wear braided, and the men favor large and festively decorated beards and moustaches. Their skin tones range from a milky white to an almost pale blue color. They are strong and fearless warriors, intimidating and dauntless.

Culture: The Aesir are a people bred for war. While it has been thousands of years since they have warred against the Jötnar (Ásgarðuran ice giants), they still dedicate their lives (mind, body, and spirit) to the art of battle. The Aesir are to be found as hired guards or soldiers throughout the lands of Leviathan. In their homeland to the north, they maintain their holdings through tribal dominance. Each chieftain (known as a Jarl) controls a small plot of land and keeps those who live within safe and fed. Those who have their lands closer to the water have the advantage of being able to raid villages along the coast during the early summer months and pull in fish and seafood to supplement their larders, while those inland rely on hunting and the harvesting of crops.

After the fall of the Sorcerer Kings, the Aesir have become a people divided. While the northern barbarian tribes wished to be left alone and have nothing to do with the rest of the world, the tribes to the south wanted to begin trade and take a seat in the political arena of the world. In a pact referred to as the Réttr Olikligr, the people of the Aesir split into two separate Jarldoms: Untermyrr to the north and Svartrheim to the south. The northerners wished to settle the lands and return to the ways their home world Ásgarður, while the people of the southern lands longed to explore the world and create new alliances.

Trade for food, staples, tools, and weapons usually occurs between the various tribes and Jarldoms. Some items are sent as gifts to gain alliances, given when arranged marriages are followed through, and some are simply taken as a show of power and strength. Since the divide, the people of Svartrheim have traveled to the south to forge relations with the merchants of Vuul and Kesh, and have sent emissaries into the plains of Khazakhaan and the mountains of Karthis to set up trade amongst the barbarian tribes who live there.

Most of the Aesir have come to terms with having to respect boundaries and have kept to themselves since the fall of the Sorcerer Kings. This is not to say that the northern barbarians don’t still raid the coasts of Tir Domhain during the early summer months, or attempt to pick off Ithmyrrian ships that sail to close to their shores. Like the Ithmyrrians, the Aesir look at mankind as their weaker cousins. While they are aware that they are not the only people on the face of Leviathan (which they have named Urd, a word meaning “earth” or “land” in their native tongue), they tend to be xenophobic in nature.

Religion: The Aesir practice polytheism in their belief system. There are many gods (and goddesses) who watch over them and listen to prayers if proper sacrifice is given. If the people of the Aesir were to agree on any one deity, it would be the one referred to as “The All Father” or Fjolnir, the One Eye. This Ásgarðuran war god is said to be the father of all creation and watches over all warriors until the time of their death. It is then that the valkyrja fly from Fjolnir’s long house and take the faithful to the afterlife. While this belief is well integrated into Aesir culture, their continual worship has not been the case since their arrival on Leviathan. Beyond the short-lived worship of the Great Dragons, the Aesir have taken to the following of Shamanistic “Totems.” Each tribe adopts the identity and persona attributes of an animal spirit, attuning themselves to that animal though ritual and prayer. This has been less of a phenomenon in the southlands of Svartrheim, but has become a practice amongst eighty percent of the tribes of Untermyrr.